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Boys vs. Girls: The Coming Darkness
Boys vs. Girls: The Coming Darkness is the first part of the Boys vs. Girls trilogy. It is the eighth installment of the D.I.T. Literary Universe and the third book of Part Two: The Downfall of Evil. Summary "Everyone knows that boys are smarter than girls and have better social skills." That's the thought that started the entire chain of events. When Emily Watson successfully proves this (unfairly) at a science fair, the boys decide to avenge them. The revenge chain goes on and on until the School War begins! Read to see what revenge can do, not to mention thrills, chills, and nonstop action! Synopsis Prologue and Girls' Secret Meeting The book opens with a flashback on how Tower Placement School came to be. In the present day, Emily Watson attended the school. For many reasons, she had come to despise the entire male gender. A particular peeve for her is when they got physically hyper and went in a rapid rush around the classroom on two occasions. She thought girls were smarter and more polite, but was unsure how to prove this. The next day, during recess, Emily just sat on the bench, her head down. She wouldn’t even play with Helen, her best friend. Finally, she lets Beethoven II talk to her. He was the only boy Emily appreciated and respected. Emily knew he would understand when she explained why she was distressed. Beethoven suggested they build a trap, happy to help because he wanted to shun all the boys who had dissed him while drawing in the other gender. Emily told Beethoven she loved the idea and then the bell rang. They both knew where to finish - the next Girls’ Secret Meeting. She also thought their leader, Helen McKeen, would “go crazy about a plan like this.” At 2 AM that night, the secret meeting begins. The girls sit in a massive, elaborate room with a ring of chairs surrounding a central platform. The meeting has come to order. Helen stood at the center of the room on a high platform supported by a tall pole. It reached just about halfway to the ceiling. Helen presents Emily Watson, who would introduce the meeting. Emily swung to the central platform on a rope, to which she could stand next to Helen. She then reminds the girls about setbacks boys had caused them, and said there was a wonderful solution. She then introduced the motion to build the trap. Helen asked Beethoven to verify his suggestion, then promised Emily they would have order soon. She then made her their leader and announced the news. She pointed out there was a science fair coming up, and it would be the perfect time, as well as the deadline. The Boy Trap The very next day, a child celebrity named Steven Thompson came to Tower Placement School. When Steven stepped out of the car, the first people he saw were Emily and Beethoven. They introduced themselves, and lied about needing to collect a stuent fee of twenty dollars. However, Steven sees through their lies and Helen shows up, telling them to leave. She then introduces herself to Steven, and said he would love it there. She also explained several rules to him and told him about Anakin and Jay Organa. Mr. Danny, the homeroom teacher, was also delighted. After a long morning of integers, Steven filled his lunch tray, but didn’t know who to sit with. He was suspicious of Helen, and he didn’t trust Emily or Beethoven at all. He prepared to search out Anakin and Jay when he found Summer Petersen sitting by herself sadly. He sat over with her instead. Steven knew from the start that she was beautiful and loving deep inside, leaving him skeptical to why no one else liked her. They had a friendly conversation and became friends. Summer also told him about Emily Watson. Both of them hugged. But with his cheek braced against Summer’s shoulder, he could see Emily glaring at him in her rage. He asked Summer why this was, and Summer revealed the Thunderqueen was Emily’s mother, and Emily certainly wanted revenge for her destruction. Steven was appalled that he already had an archenemy. Although Steven is there, Emily knew he posed no threat to their secretive work. All the girls come up with designs, but Helen actually works at it. All the girls present their traps to their new leader, but Helen’s is chosen. Thus began the process. Helen’s homemade robots worked on it along with all the girls. Helen and Emily stood on a tower that they had made to oversee the construction. Helen also reveals to Emily that she had installed a melatonin packet in the central tube that was simultaneously being installed. After P.E., the assembly began. Emily and Helen sat toward the front. Emily was so emotional that she could hardly hear the announcements. Helen was excited as well, but she was also patient. Once on stage, Emily quickly hammered a large sign saying Girls Rule. Emily then announced that girls were the smarter gender and were more polite. She told the boys to come and prove her wrong if they dared to. Andrew Hendersen was chosen. He stepped up to the trap’s starting line as Helen did one last technology check. Beethoven pulled a lever, and the tile that Andrew was standing on shot upward, sending Andrew flying through the air. He landed in the tunnel, which was hung to the ceiling by a strong wire. Melatonin gas consumed him from both sides. Before he could recover, the tunnel dropped him onto a tower and just barely righted himself as a robotic, red-eyed replica of a black wolf attacked. When the wolf threw a spear, Andrew caught it and threw it back at the wolf. A direct hit! Electricity surged everywhere as the wolf fell off the tower. As Andrew stopped to catch his breath, a robotic replica of a 30-foot monster emerged. It worked its legs at Andrew, intent on crushing him. Andrew dodged them all, trying to size up the situation, when he noticed loads of candy inside the tower. Even amid a duel, he dove inside and began eating the candy. This proved it, because Andrew had displayed a severe lack of focus and discipline. As Emily announces her point to be proved, Steven pointed out it was a comparison - meaning the boys were supposedly retarded, but nothing proved the girls were not. After reconfiguring the controls to her advantage, Emily allows herself to be pushed into the tube. As only she and Helen know, no melatonin comes out before Emily engages the monster. After a brief duel, Emily lunged at her opponent, kicking him off the tower. Knowing they would be disliked by everyone, the boys decide to orchestrate their own plan. To do this, they arrange a secret meeting that night. The Revolution Every boy in the whole school attended the meeting. To all appearances, they were inside a vacant, wooden house, but inside it was luxurious and similar to the Girl-Team meeting place. Several boys, including Cody Ort and Jay Organa, began to complain about their situation. Finally, Micheal Watson (Emily’s sister) stepped up and suggested they take revenge on the girls and ruin their lives in turn. The crowd’s reactions were varied in agreement. Their leader, Anakin Organa, approved, but insisted they use no violence, only verbal abuse. He also made Steven Thompson their leader. With a strong handshake, the boys had a new leader and a new plan. Everyone headed outside to make plans and report in. However, before they could separate, they noticed Summer Petersen. Assuming Summer was a spy for Emily, all the boys minus Steven cornered her against a tree. Steven demanded they step back, then asked Summer what she was doing. Summer looked up at Steven, and was able to calm herself. She explained she was on a walk, and that she did not at all agree with Emily. Steven asked her if she wanted to help them, and Summer happily agreed. And thus did the boys execute their plan. They left out all the girls in their games, manipulated their friends, and insulted them. As for Beethoven, Jay stopped him on the slide and offered to splash him with vinegar, remarking he had to be hot in his “snobby clothes.” When Beethoven refused, Jay called him picky and insulted his greasy hair, recommending he wash it. After calling Beethoven an ugly git concerning his appearance, Jay “dismissed” him and made one last rude remark. As for Helen, she opened her locker only to find Anakin dressed as a ghost. It scared Helen motionless, prompting Anakin to taunt her, who then emptied the locker. Emily was saved for last. As she walked out from lunch, she was stopped by Steven, Summer, Anakin, and Jay, who were all sitting on a bench. They all held up zero signs in front of her with mocking expressions, saying the signs were iconic to her persona. Emily growled and trembled in anger. In response, Anakin called her a baby and offered her a pacifier. Emily lunged at Steven, but Steven slammed her into a fence. Realizing this was not the time, and not badly hurt, Emily left in anger. At midnight, Emily called an emergency meeting. She managed to convince the girls, who were growing increasingly desperate, that if the Boy Trap could not stop them, then only murder would. Helen was reluctant, but she agreed. The girls roared with applause. Emily and Helen agreed to build weapons for them. A few days later, Emily attacked Steven with her flamethrower after he accidentally spilled his lunch on her. Steven backed away in retreat, dodging several attacks from Emily as the entire older half of the school looked on. When he made for the fire extinguisher, Helen pushed him away from his target. As Emily continued her barrage, Steven dove under a table and crawled across its underside, but Emily ultimately cornered him. When she attempted to kill Summer Petersen and Anakin and Jay Organa for interfering, the tables (literally) turned and Steven found the strength to fight back, throwing Emily against the ceiling and then through a wall. Emily returned with greater fury than before. Anakin tossed Steven his lightsaber (which was charged at low power) and Steven used it to incapacitate Emily. The fight ended when the principal took them to detention and briefly confiscated Anakin’s lightsaber. However, she was not aware that any other weapons were used. Capture and Escape After the fight, Steven rallied all the boys to a secret meeting through use of notes, and also recruited Summer. Inside the Boys’ Meeting Room, Steven discussed the flame thrower attack. He warned them that Emily was committing an act of war, and led an attempt to prepare and defend themselves. As leader, he assigned jobs for them. For instance, Anakin and Jay built weapons for them, Andrew Hendersen was the lieutenant, and Summer was made Steven’s aide. When the meeting ended, all the boys had a place in the defense. Shortly after, Steven was captured, along with Summer Petersen and Andrew Hendersen, and sentenced to death by the girls. The execution did not go as planned, as all three prisoners managed to free themselves from their chains and evade the three armed girls that had been let loose upon them. Anakin quietly entered the box and held the blade of his lightsaber at Helen’s throat, alerting Emily. All throughout the arena’s assembled crowd, skyfighters swooped in as the nearly 100 Boy-Team pilots who had infiltrated the arena revealed themselves. When several girls arrived at the box and engaged Anakin, Beethoven took the opportunity to strike with his wrist-mounted flamethrower, unleashing a stream of flames at Anakin, who leaped from the box and into the arena, landing unharmed. With that, a massive battle began. The Battle of Tower Placement After the rescue of the leaders, the boys and girls engage one another in a complex series of engagements on a number of different fronts. The boys had planned the attack as a sudden, overwhelming assault that would catch the girls off-guard and prevent them from murdering anyone else. Their army lands in nine assault ships, off-loading infantry, armored vehicles, artillery, and air support. The Girl-Team army consisted of infantry of girls and robots alike and larger vehicles. The battle was primarily a ground campaign. However, the boys’ crucial use of aerial bombardment of the girls’ fighter craft allowed the Boy-Team gunships to have air superiority throughout much of the battle, giving the boys a crucial advantage. And although the boys were doing well, the girls were heavily exposed to attacks from the air by Boy-Team gunships. The boys’ armored walkers were strong against the Girl-Team stronghold. General Cindy Lewis was ordered to clear the way for Emily Watson. Along with a force of robots, she proceeded along the sidelines of the ongoing battle. Lewis took control of surviving units, including walkers and robots to battle Boy-Team Walkers and OG-9 units to duel skyfighters. A trooper kept Lewis updated with Emily’s status. Near the end of the path, Lewis dueled and defeated three boys. When Watson arrived, she congratulated her for her efforts. Boy-Team troops mounted their speeder bikes and raced across the battlefield, gathering vital information about enemy activity. A group of the airborne infantry, including Francis, led the frontal assault on the girls’ Core Ships. In this way, another 3 Core Ships were taken down. Jay Organa led the attack on the ground before he was informed that contact with Anakin had been lost. Jay raced off to find his brother but was intercepted by a trio of girls piloting hovertanks. Jay was able to defeat the trio. Having beaten the opposers into retreat, Anakin Organa took note of the fact that much of the navy was still grounded when the boys struck. Lightly armored and vulnerable Girl-Team ships attempted to withdraw immediately, but many were destroyed in the first wave of attacks from the enemy gunships. The general now ordered the army’s artillery to attempt to take down as many of the heavily armored Core Ships as possible, as they each held thousands of robots, and managed to bring down one. Despite taking control of the underground base, the boys were unable to capture the Girl-team leaders and stop the war before it began, and most of the girls’ infantry and heavy equipment escaped aboard Core Ships. Lightsaber Duel In the battle, Emily Watson tried to flee to a hangar where her vessel was docked. A Boy-Team gunship carrying Steven Thompson, Summer Petersen, and Andrew Henderson pursued her. Emily exchanged fire with a rear cannon; the resulting attack on the gunship led to Andrew falling to the metal ground below. The gunship continued to give chase, deploying Steven and Summer into Emily’s hangar. Trailing behind was Andrew in Michael Watson’s fighter. Upon arriving at Emily’s hangar, Steven and Summer challenged their quarry. As Steven began to strategize, Summer charged at Emily. Emily unleashed her blowtorch and blasted Summer aside before turning to Steven. Emily attempted to blast Steven with another stream of fire, demanding the general’s surrender. Steven grounded the blast on his lightsaber and calmly stated that he would not withdraw. Drawing her lightsaber, Emily awaited Steven. Steven promptly charged at Emily and attacked, but Emily quickly deflected Steven’s initial attack. After a quick flurry of bladework, Steven slashed at Emily’s legs. Emily overleapt the attack and flourished her blade to drive Steven back as she landed. As Steven fell back, Emily calmly taunted him, telling him that his rebellious side depressed her. Steven attacked again, attempting to regain the offensive, but was forced into retreat by Emily’s elegant Form VII bladework. Emily quickly seized the offensive, the fierce bladework of her Vaapad style wearing away at Steven’s Form VI defense. Despite the efficiency of Steven’s defense, Emily’s precision was so great that it forced him to scramble to fend off her attacks. Eventually Steven, straining to keep up, was pulled into a blade-lock. Emily pushed Steven’s blade aside, and suddenly jabbed at his arm, cutting it across the side and bringing him down. Despite his restraint against Emily, Steven, fatigued by the battle and outmatched by Emily’s skills, was defeated. As Emily raised her lightsaber to kill Steven, Summer recovered from the blast of fire and saw Steven’s predicament. Running across the hangar from the corner whence she lay, Summer reached the two in time to block Emily’s blow. As Emily turned to regard Summer, Steven retrieved his fallen lightsaber and tossed it to Summer. Summer, taking up the second blade, began to unleash of flurry of broad attacks, briefly taking the villain off her guard. Emily was able to recover her guard and, after a quick bout of swordplay, drive Summer back. Summer was forced to revert when Emily masterfully disarmed her, flicking her second blade out of Summer’s hand and destroying the hilt in mid air. Warding off Emily with a flurry of rapid strikes, Summer quickly retreated, regaining her composure. As they raised their blades into a high guard, the two advanced on each other. Blade at the ready, Summer attacked. The two engaged in a flurry of swordplay, seemingly equally matched. Briefly breaking off, Emily quickly reassessed Summer’s strength before attacking, and the duel resumed. Despite holding her own against Emily for much of the duel, Summer was finally brought down when Emily twirled and slashed her with a sudden undercut. As Summer cried out in pain, Emily blasted the girl aside with her blowtorch. Anakin Organa Intervenes As Emily briefly caught her breath, she noticed the sound of footsteps. Turning to the hangar entrance, Emily and the newly-arrived Anakin regarded one another. Emily blasted Anakin with fire, sending him flying across the chamber and slamming into a wall. Anakin quickly recovered and retaliated with a powerful Force Push that sent the villain flying over her desk. Emily attempted to flee but Anakin blocked her way, igniting his lightsaber. Realizing she would have to fight the Jedi blade-to-blade, Emily ignited her lightsaber. She declared that Helen and order were with the girls, although Anakin stated that her faith in the girls may have been misplaced. With nothing left to be said, the duel began. Their battle raged through the office, with neither opponent able to gain an advantage. As the fight moved to the central platform, the platform rose through the retractable ceiling into the Girl-Team Meeting Chamber itself. As the duel continued, Emily found that her movements were being hampered by the small size of the platform, while Anakin could easily jump around the villain. And then Anakin took the high ground by jumping to one of the seats above him. He then began to use the Force to throw several chairs at Emily, but the Super used her own powers to dodge from one chair to another, avoiding the attacks. Emily focused herself on an oncoming chair and sent it hurtling back at Anakin. As the chair flew back at Anakin, he realized that he had spread his powers too thinly to counter the spinning seat with the Force. He was instead forced to leap from his perch to a lower seat, giving up the tactical high ground. Emily leaped at the Jedi, landing on the edge of his seat and releasing a blast of lightning at Anakin, tearing the Jedi’s lightsaber from his grasp. Anakin utilized tutaminis to absorb Emily’s lightning, but Emily’s power was such that Anakin began to falter. Emily advanced on the younger Jedi, sending more lightning at him as she closed the distance. However, with newfound determination Anakin gained the strength necessary start holding the lightning back at her, coalescing the energy into a blue orb in front of him. However, as each combatant attempted to overpower the other, the orb of energy exploded, sending both of them flying. Anakin is sent tumbling head over heels, but having been at its opposite end when the energy orb exploded, he is not blasted clear of the chair and manages to grab onto the edge. Emily, however, had been standing at the very edge of the seat during the explosion. As such, the blast sent her flying back to the podium, situated high above the floor with nothing in between but empty space. Emily struck the podium too hard to control her landing, and she rolled off to the edge where she desperately attempted to climb back up. But, exhausted and holding onto a smooth edge, Emily lost her grip and fell 20 feet to the floor. Battered and weary, Emily knew that re-engaging Anakin would be fruitless. Emily instead chose to retreat. She crawled through a ventilation shaft and eventually dropped into her STAP vehicle, escaping to safety. Ending By the end of the battle, only boys remained. However, the victory had not come easy. When the Boy-Team assault ship arrived at Anakin’s house, the pilot estimated 32 seriously injured boys. Emily went to the McKeen’s house to meet with Helen, who was settled there after an exhausting duel with Andrew. Pleased by the news of the Bow-Tie’s construction she received from Helen, Emily agreed to train Helen on weekends and whenever else possible. Meanwhile, Steven and Summer went with Anakin to his house, who tended to their wounds. Anakin and Steven both decided to keep a lookout. Summer expressed her belief that the battle would not have been won without the boys’ new army, but Anakin retorts at Summer’s use of the word “victory”. The battle was but the first of many in what became known as the School War. Development "Boys vs. Girls - Part 1" sees the School War's first mention, when no mention of the war past the first battle was made until the sequel. In this book, no mention was made about what they actually were. Another early concept for the revelation of the war was an iconic quote from General Anakin Organa (he himself was named after “Star Wars” characters Anakin Skywalker and Leia Organa, though it was pronounced differently). Originally, steak knives were going to be used as primary weapons instead of lightsabers. This changed after a collaboration to dissolve any plotholes in the story. Rating This book is rated PG-13 "for sustained sequences of action violence". External Links * * Boys vs. Girls - Part 1 Category:Books Category:PG-13 rated books Category:Boys vs. Girls books Category:2011 books Category:Ammon Thomas books